Happy Christmas & a Big Thank You

Happy Christmas to the much appreciated readers of this blog. A big thank you to to those who follow my blog and comment on it and also to my guest reviewers who have helped me out this year. I'd also like to thank publishers for their continued support. I wish you all the best for 2012.

Julia Golding's Ringmaster on Kindle

As a special Christmas treat, Julia Golding has made the first in the Darcie Lock series, Ringmaster, available on Kindle at the lowest price she can get from Amazon ie 86p/99c.

Blurb: In the heart of Africa trouble is brewing. A chain of events throw one young girl into a world of espionage and danger. One thing's for sure. Life will never be the same again for Darcie Lock. When her father mysteriously goes missing, Darcie sets off on the trail of his captors finding that her government-official father is actually a spy and that her shopaholic mother is also a spook. In a desperate attempt to get their best agents back and the invaluable information that they possess, the secret service have no option but to employ Darcie as their newest recruit. Thrown on a crash course of self-defence, survival skills and gadget training, Darcie must penetrate an international smuggling ring. But will she be able to save her father or will she wilt under the pressure as things hot up under the Kenyan sun? Expats, espionage and the exotic setting of Nairobi - Julia Golding will have you gripped in this rollercoaster ride of an action thriller.


My review is here.

I hadn't realised that the third in the series, Deadlock, is available on Kindle ahead of it's paperback release next March.

Ebook of Darkest Powers Stories

I've just noticed that there is a Darkest Powers Bonus Pack ebook available:

Contains three companion stories to the #1 NYT bestselling Darkest Powers trilogy.
Dangerous (prequel to The Summoning) The story of how Derek and Simon came to Lyle House, told from Derek's point-of-view.
Divided (set between The Summoning and The Awakening) Derek and Simon's adventures while separated from Chloe and Rae in the factory. Also told from Derek's point of view.
Disenchanted (overlaps part of The Awakening) Simon and Tori continue their journey after Chloe and Derek are left at the truck stop. Told from Tori's point of view.
Please note: these are stories, not novels. Combined, they equal half the length of a Darkest Powers novel.

It's available as epub and Kindle.

My reviews of The Summoning and The Awakening.

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (April 2011, Doubleday Childrens, ISBN: 0857530283)

First Line: Every morning I wake up and tell myself this: It's just one day, one twenty-four-hour period to get yourself through.

Notes: Contains spoilers for If I Stay. Whilst reading Where She Went I switched to and from a UK library book and a US e-copy supplied via Netgalley depending on where I was reading.


Review: Where She Went is the sequel to 2009's If I Stay and picks up three years later; it is narrated solely by Adam, the boyfriend to If I Stay's other main character, Mia.

Three years ago Mia left to go to Juilliard to continue her cello-playing career and after a while she dropped Adam from her life. Three years on, Adam is a rock-star, lives with a famous actress but is struggling and most of all he wants to know why Mia left him. He cannot move on. Dreading an upcoming tour with his estranged band members, which he leaves New York for the next day, he stumbles across Mia giving a recital. She spots him in the audience and summons him afterwards. They have one night before going their separate ways to talk about their past.

The structure of the book, in the way in which Mia takes Adam around New York in the late night/early hours of the morning reminded me slightly of Thirteen Reasons Why - such an intense experience for them over a few hours. Along the journey, Mia gets to see what Adam's life has become plus there are flashbacks from Adam as to how they met and other significant occasions.

Despite being one of the few readers who was not wowed by If I Stay I was eagerly awaiting the sequel. I did want to find out what happened next and I enjoyed Where She Went more. I raced through it, intrigued to find out what the two would do and I enjoyed being in the New York atmosphere. Both Adam and Mia's characters start off as unsympathetic but as more is revealed, their situations become more understandable. Nonetheless I don't think Mia behaved very well and Adam seems to have over-reacted. However, if you enjoyed If I Stay you should enjoy this one too and if you haven't read it already, I recommend reading it before reading Where She Went.

Cover: I like the NYC background but I don't like the model's expression.

Published in December (2011)

Here are some of the teenage/YA titles that are being published in the UK in December 2011. I will put a link to this post and previous and subsequent "monthly" lists in my sidebar. January's list can be found here, February's here, March's here, April's here, May's here, June's here, July's here, August's here, September's here, October's here and November's here. Title links go to amazon.co.uk. Please let me know of others to add to the list. In general I have not included re-issues and have stuck to UK publishers.

Monthly lists for 2010 can be found here.

I have tried to identify all the British authors which I hope will be useful to those doing the Bookette's excellent British Books Challenge.

Veronica Bennett - Vice & Virtue (1st, Walker, pb) British Author
Francesca Lia Block - The Frenzy (27th, HarperCollins Childrens Book Group, pb)
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (1 Dec, ATOM, pb)
Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Prince (6th, Walker, pb)
Cat Clarke - Torn (22nd, Quercus Publishing Plc, pb)
Sara Grant - Dark Parties (22nd, Indigo, pb)
Michael Northrop - Trapped (15th, ATOM, pb)